Last October, AEGEE-Verona organised the event entitled “Perchè l’Europa unita ieri e oggi?” (Eng. Why a united Europe, yesterday and today?), directly connected with Spreading Europtimism Focus Area (Objective 2). For this reason, they were chosen as the ACTive Local of the Month of October. We spoke with the former secretary Raffaello Corsini, and the ACT responsible Camelia Kajbaf, to find out more!

ACT: What kind of emotions did you have when you found out that AEGEE-Verona had been chosen as the ACTive local of October?

Raffaello and Camelia: We felt very happy, proud of ourselves, but also thankful and grateful to the ones who had made this decision. We are happy to be rewarded for the hard job we are doing as a young and small local. Thank you!

Why did you decide to organise the “Perchè l’Europa unita ieri e oggi?” event?

We decided to go for this activity when we had the chance to organise something in collaboration with other student organisations such as ESN, AIESEC and JFE. We were all interested in this kind of topic. As a single group, we considered that we were able to organise an event all together and with the different ways of approaching it, we could spread the idea of Europtimism more effectively.

What was the result of your activity?

The result of our activity was a conference that gathered 40 participants, who listened to a short lecture from a professor and then discussed about what is Europe today.

How do you inform your members about the Action Agenda/Strategic Plan?

We inform our members about the Action Agenda/Strategic Plan by spending some time during the member meetings, but we also use to speak about them during our local events, such as the Aperitivo linguistico, or when we promote events related to them (EPM or thematic events).

Do you have any other activities related to the Action Agenda/Strategic Plan?

In November last year, we organised another conference about the USA presidential elections with a special focus on how the American political system works and what was its evolution through time.

Why should other locals organise activities related to the Action Agenda/Strategic Plan?

Locals should organise activities related to the Action Agenda/Strategic plan, because it is a good chance to make students aware of the world they live in and to raise their knowledge and self-confidence.

Do you have any tips for organising thematic activities?

Our main tips for organising thematic activities are the following: plan everything in detail and with good care, and start looking for the help of other associations if your local is too small to manage all these things on its own.

AEGEE-Verona Board 2016-2017

Can you tell us a bit more about your local?

AEGEE-Verona was refounded in 2013. At the moment, we are about 40 members and approximately 15 of them are active at the local level.

Characterize your local in one sentence.  

AEGEE-Verona: Very small, but very strong!

Written by Elena Efremova, on behalf of Action Agenda Coordination Committee

In February, AEGEE-Aachen paid attention to a very actual topic by organising a discussion on Brexit, with interesting results. As a reward, they were chosen as the ACTive Local of the Month. We spoke to them to find out more!

ACT: Congratulations! As we would like to know about this month’s winner, could you tell us a bit more about your local?
AEGEE-Aachen: We have about 120 members, of which around 50 are active. We also have a lot of secondary members all over Europe who fell in love with the polar bear spirit. We have three working groups which are responsible for Human Resources (HRWG), Erasmus students, and Public Relations (PRWG). The HRWG organises debates, members’ weekends, Local Training Courses and a lot more. For Erasmus student, we organise a tutoring program for incoming students and plan various events for them. And of course, the PRWG creates all our awesome stickers, t-shirts and other PR materials.

You organised a discussion about Brexit. Could you tell us a bit more about the activity?
We realized that people are keen on debating about what’s happening in Europe so we set up regular discussions every first Sunday of a month. We usually decide a topic in our Facebook group and the participants look up some general information beforehand to be prepared well. For February, our members selected the issue of the Brexit to be discussed. We decided to talk about the situation in the UK, not only because similar discussions are taking place in other European countries but also because of David Cameron’s proposals to the European Parliament and the pending referendum.

What was the result?
After an intense debate, most participants drew the conclusion that Great Britain is important for the European Union, hoping they will remain in the European Union. The debate Cameron started with his proposed requirements like an “emergency brake” could be helpful and good to seize a suggestion for future development of the EU. On the other hand, the idea of stopping the development towards the “United States of Europe”, thus seeing the Union as a federation with more liberal and powerful national governments, raised a lot of criticism during the discussion. Nevertheless, the participants felt this proposal could have a quite useful impact as the fight about how much the EU should grow together is already going on for decades and needs to be settled.

Why do you think the Action Agenda is important for the network, and what would you say to locals that are thinking about organising something related to the Action Agenda?
There are plenty of new ideas coming up. The structure provided by the Action Agenda is helpful not to lose track within AEGEE and integrate current activities. Locals can use the objectives of the Action Agenda as input and inspiration for events. Also, don’t be afraid of trying out new things or events with few participants. Even small events have their impact!

AEGEE-Aachen has certainly shown to the Network that it can be an example to other locals, what would you say to the locals that want to be as awesome as you?
Well, our biggest fortune is to have such a strong team spirit within AEGEE-Aachen. This also is of great credit to our Human Resources Working Group whose members organise fun events (hiking, cooking) for the AEGEEans of our antenna which really creates an intense bond among our members. Events like the members weekend mirror the polar bear spirit, this April we invited our friends from AEGEE-Lviv and we are pleased that our neighbours from Leuven, Eindhoven and Cologne are joining in, too! We are convinced that if you have a strong team, you’ll be a strong local so we steadily try to keep and improve this unique kind of camaraderie. Furthermore, our members are perfectionists, paying attention to the detail and not easy to satisfy. Combined with our common idea of a unified Europe all of these factors create an exceptional momentum we are very proud of!

Which sentence would describe your local and your event?
Hey! Wir woll’n die Eisbär’n seh’n! Ohhooohooo hohoooo!

Written by the Action Agenda Coordination Committee

This Agora we won’t only elect the new Comité Directeur and members of different Commissions, but we will also vote on the new Action Agenda. If you are asking yourself: “What agenda?”, this article is for you, but also those who already know what the Action Agenda is, are welcome to check out what the new one will look like.

To begin at the beginning, not of the founding of the earth but of the planning in AEGEE, our association is built upon a vision, mission and means, defining who we are, what we do and what we want the future to look like. Based on that, every three years a Strategic Plan, defining Focus Areas that we want AEGEE to focus on, is created at the Planning Meeting (stay tuned for the next one taking place this autumn).

To make sure we can actually contribute to these Focus Areas, every year at the European Planning Meeting (EPM) an Action Agenda is created, which gives concrete objectives that our locals and European bodies have to achieve. Shortly said, you can consider the Strategic Plan as AEGEE’s long term vision, and the Action Agenda as the association’s homework to contribute to the vision. If you want to know more about these two documents, take a look at the EPM booklet starting on page 16.

In Bergamo, you will be voting on the Action Agenda that will start on the 1^st of August 2016 and last until the 31^st of July 2017. As you just read, it was created by participants of the European Planning Meeting, which took place in Leiden this year. After 1,5 day of a thematic conference on migration, members of locals all over the Network took a closer look at the Focus Areas we have and created a draft of new goals to achieve in the fields of Spreading Europtimism, Youth Mobility, Youth Employment and Civic Education.

Based on this draft and the feedback given on the forum, the Comité Directeur created a final version of the Action Agenda that will be presented at the upcoming Agora. Curious what you will be presented? You can find the new objectives here. In case you have any questions or suggestions to improve them, feel free to share them on the forum or come on stage after the presentation of the next Action Agenda!

Written by Svenja van der Tol, Secretary General of AEGEE-Europe 2015-2016

Drink your tea with milk today, because the next ACTive Local of the Month we want to present to you is based in the UK. Congratulations to AEGEE-Canterbury! The Contact Antenna organised an interesting debate about UK’s membership of the European Union. We spoke to James Kelly to find out more about their event.

ACT: Congratulations! As we would like to get to know this month’s winner, could you tell us a bit more about your local?

James: We are based at the University of Kent, which stylises itself as ‘the UK’s European University’. Our university quite rightly deserves this title, being recently placed as the 66th most internationalised university in the world by THE. You can easily see why by just walking around the campus a short while and hearing the myriad of languages spoken; something that is reflected in our group! However, we are also placed in one of the most Eurosceptic counties in the entirety of the UK. For this reason, our antenna is in a unique position to fight for the European vision in the heartland of the ‘Brexit’ movement. Though still quite small in size, we have ambitions to grow more and become one of the most dynamic AEGEE locals out there!

You organised a debate about UK’s membership of the European Union. Can you tell us more about the debate?

The debate was really our keystone event of the last term. Together with four other societies on campus, we orchestrated a highly popular and successful debate with teams representing the interests of four of the UK’s major political parties. Aside from the debate, our antenna has been highly proactive and has been involved in a wide variety of activities in a comparatively short amount of time. Aside from our many social gatherings in the quintessentially British pubs of Canterbury, we have been very active in campaigning for the EU in Kent. From holding a campus referendum on EU membership to canvassing in the city of Canterbury itself, we have firmly established ourselves as a hands-on European group in our local community.

​Why did you decide to organise the debate?

It has been confirmed that the UK shall have a referendum on EU membership, and because of this it is highly important that students are adequately informed on the issue and engaged in the topic. What better way to do this than through a debate? It provided the best means to spread the message from both sides of the argument and also provided an opportunity to us to work with the Eurosceptic student societies. Though our political views may differ, it was highly reassuring to know that we strive for adequately informed students to enable them to make educated decisions. As the referendum approaches closer, I am sure our encounters will become even more spirited and rewarding!

What was the result?

The event was highly popular both in the university and beyond as we had many guests come to visit from outside the campus community. The debate was well structured and balanced, with the quality of oratory from the speakers being of the highest standards. All in all it was a highly successful event that crucially got people talking about Europe and the future role of the UK within it.

​Why do you think the Action Agenda is important for the Network, and what would you say to other locals that are thinking about organising something related to the Action Agenda?

The Action Agenda provide locals with clear objectives for themselves to achieve within the local community, with the knowledge of the Europe wide goals they are striving towards. I can think of few, if any, student organisations that have the same sense of purpose. For this reason, what I would say to other locals is to find your own specific goal to aim towards and achieve it in the most creative and engaging way possible. If you can do this whilst working with student and non-student groups outside of AEGEE all the better!

Do you have any other big plans for the upcoming months?

As the UK’s referendum on EU membership comes ever closer, so too does the necessity for us to further expand our campaign! We shall be actively involved with the ‘Stronger In’ movement and shall be meeting with local communities and schools in order to expand our reach.

AEGEE-Canterbury has certainly shown to the Network that it can be an example to other locals. What would you say to other locals that want to be as awesome as you?

Euroscepticism is by no means singular to the UK, so I would advise other locals to take an equally active role in raising awareness and campaigning across Europe! Be it through debate, hosting referendums or whatever other creative events you might come up with, be sure to establish a constructive dialogue in an engaging and welcoming environment.

​Which sentence would describe your local and your event?

British and European students on the front line of keeping Britain in the EU!

Written by Action Agenda Coordination Committee

November 2015, the world was shocked by the attacks in Paris. Among others, the Spanish local AEGEE-León decided to take action and organised a session on the future of Europe and islamophobia, related to the Focus Area of Spreading Europtimism. Seeing that their current President, Marcos Mato Gonzales, is also a member of the Action Agenda Coordination Committee (ACT), it will come as no surprise that many of their events are related to our Action Agenda. We spoke to Laura Perez Alvarez to find out more!

ACT: Congratulations! ​As we would like to get to know this month’s winner, could you tell us a bit more about your local?

Laura: León is a small city, so for us having more than 100 members is a big deal! We organised Renove V (a weekend event for locals of our Network Commissioner with more than 140 participants) in September and right after that we changed our board. We have been trying to focus on organising relevant events. Since our president joined ACT in August he has been helping us to organise better activities that are more related to the Action Agenda. He was the one that came up with the idea for a series of sessions open to AEGEE members and other students about many different hot topics.

​Why did you decide to organise the session on the future of Europe and islamophobia?

There were many reasons. First of all, it was the time right after the terrorist attacks in Paris, because of which we saw that islamophobia was increasing. We have friends who are refugees and they were scared. We decided that we, as AEGEE members, should do something, so we talked to the islamic community here in León and the university. The idea for the sessions, including a speech and debate, just came up.

What was the result of your session?

The session was really interesting and attracted a lot of people: members of AEGEE-León, Erasmus and international students, other students and even two representatives from the muslim community. In total, more than 50 people attended the sessions. There were a lot of different opinions in the audience, which led to a great debate. We had some hungarian people as well and they gave us their point of view about the situation and explained some concepts we didn’t really know about. There was also a more intensive debate about the war in Syria and whether to support it or not. Some people thought that it is the only option and for some others war is never an option.

​Why do you think the Action Agenda is important for the Network, and what would you say to locals that are thinking about organising something related to the Action Agenda?

To locals that want to organise something, we would say: do it! We think AEGEE has a lot to offer and locals have a lot of potential, which is why the Action Agenda is so important for us. The Network needs to have a direction, and to have events that help us grow as an organisation.

Do you have any other big plans for the upcoming months​?

Right now we plan on continuing with more sessions at the university about important topics, like feminism and youth employment, with a speaker from the City Hall. Besides that, we are planning to have a workshop about ACT and the Action Agenda. Besides that, a lot of our members (more than ten) went to the EPM in Leiden, so now we want to host another session explaining the results of the event to the rest of our members.

AEGEE-Leon has certainly shown to the Network that it can be an example to other locals. What would you say to other locals that want to be as awesome as you?

Work hard, play hard. We have very active members that work really hard to improve our antenna, while they also have fun! We have also implemented a mentorship program” to help our newest members know AEGEE better. So, as advice for other locals we would say: it’s important to motivate your members, especially those who seem interested, and help them develop their full potential.

​Which sentence would describe your local and your event?

We, as young europeans, must be informed about the problems in today’s Europe. To spread europtimism, you have to know what Europe means!

Written by Action Agenda Coordination Committee

Last October was quite a busy month for all AEGEE locals with the preparations for the Autumn Agora upcoming. However, there were  locals still organising events related to the Action Agenda! The outstanding local among those was AEGEE-Ploiești, which worked hard to organise events related to two of our Focus Areas: Spreading Europtimism and Civic Education. Their events were a good example of the impact that can be achieved with only a few people. We spoke to Alin Georgescu to find out more!

ACT: Congratulations! ​As we would like to get to know this month’s winner, could you tell us a bit more about your local?

Alin: AEGEE-Ploiești is relatively a new local, but still we succeeded to organise five Summer Universities since 2012 with different topics and in partnership with three different locals. Due to the fact that in general we don’t have so many active members, we try to do our best and we are proud to be part of the big AEGEE family.

You ​have organised the European Democracy Promoters project. Can you tell us more about this project?

During two weeks, we organised workshops and presentations in five of the biggest high schools of our city. With these workshops and presentations, we made young people (and their teachers too) aware of what the European Union really means for us, what its values are and what benefits we have thanks to it. We tried to show them how the world would look like without European institutions and without the values that are protected by them. We also discussed about critical problems that we are facing right now, like the migration crisis, human rights, youth unemployment and lack of active citizenship.

Why did you decide to organise this project?

Last year June, we started a partnership with the Information Office of the European Parliament in Romania, which gave us the chance to organise the European Democracy Promoters project. As part of a bigger project organised by the Office, with activities organised by different non-governmental organisations (NGOs) from Romania, we decided to take action against lack of information, euroscepticism and misinformation, which are issues that young people face every day.

What was the result?

Well, the result was unexpected. We succeeded to have an impact on more than 300 high school students in two weeks. In general, our participants were young people with no clue about what the European Union really is. We offered them the opportunity to find out more about its values and opportunities. Moreover, some teachers showed interest in future collaboration with us, willing to organise more sessions or conferences related to this topic and AEGEE’s Focus Areas.

Why do you think the Action Agenda is important for the Network, and what would you say to locals that are thinking about organising something related to the Action Agenda?

We consider (especially after this project) that it is our responsibility to fight against the lack of information, euroscepticism and misinformation, because these are the problems that we face. People and especially young people have the right to know more about the European Union and its values, and to believe in it. I think it is our duty as one of the biggest interdisciplinary student associations to fight and create the society that we want to live in.

Do you have any other big plans for the upcoming months?

We decided to work more with the Action Agenda and try to have an impact on as many young people as possible. We will continue our activities in high schools and also, having new members, a team building on a Focus Area in order to have more people involved. Besides that, we are going to organising a Summer Course with the Human Rights topic, from the 2nd to 16th of July.

AEGEE-Ploiesti has certainly shown to the Network that it can be an example to other locals. What would you say to other locals that want to be as awesome as you?

We have to work together, as a group, as a family, in order to create a better society. It is in our duty to do so, sharing the same values and same interests, spreading the AEGEE spirit everywhere.

​Which sentence would describe your local and your event?

“Some call it Europe, we call it home.”

Written by Action Agenda Coordination Committee

Your Vision for EUrope project is a new AEGEE project initiated as a campaign for Spreading Europtimism. Its purpose is to engage young Europeans from a wide variety of national, social and cultural backgrounds in an open discursive process of collective learning, opinion and will-formation regarding the future of Europe and make sure that their voices are being heard. The project launches now an online photoblog called Faces of Europe which aims at encouraging the sense of European community by sharing stories of various individuals from Europe. We talked with Viola Bianchetti from AEGEE-Bologna, who is the content manager to tell us more about this photoblog and what it does exactly. 

The AEGEEan: Hello, let us begin by telling us a few things about this project. What is the purpose of Faces of Europe project?                                   

Viola: Hello and thank you for this interview!

Photoblog by Alessandro Da Rold

First of all, Faces of Europe is part of the new AEGEE project, Your Vision for EUrope. This project, which is still in its launching phase, aims to facilitate discussion among young people with regards to the future of Europe. Our purpose is to educate them on European issues and politics, to stimulate active citizenship and to make sure that relevant policy-makers and stakeholders hear their voices. Stay up-to-date about our activities via our facebook page: we will soon have many news for you! And if you or your local are interested in our project, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Coming to Faces of Europe, it is an online photoblog which aims at making Europe more personal and spreading a sense of belonging and community by sharing stories of common people living across Europe. The campaign wants to show the great diversity of Europe and to give space to different experiences and views, and at the same time, underline the connection between the stories of individuals and Europe.

How was this project created?

The idea came up during our kick-off meeting in Brussels, in a session where we were brainstorming about concrete activities for our objectives (we simply put really big paper sheets on the grass in the AEGEE-house garden and got creative!). While everyone was writing something, somebody put down “Stories from Europeans”, this then triggered someone else to write down “Humans of New York”, and then “Humans of Europe”. In the session after this creative brainstorming, we then quickly agreed that we would like to launch a photoblog campaign, and the idea of ‘Faces of Europe’ was born.

Photoblog by Michela Gotti

Tell us more about this project. What does it consist of?

Every Faces of Europe’s photoblog consists of a portrait of a person and of a short text which tells his/her personal story and explains his/her relationship with Europe. The photoblogs are published on a (nearly) daily basis and shared on our online platform and on facebook. We aim at giving voice to people from different national, social and cultural backgrounds, and of different ages, genders and ethnicities. One important point for us is to include also statements which express doubts or fears about the current state of the European project, in order to create a comprehensive picture of what is Europe today from the point of view of its citizens.

How can we become reporters for this project?

Our recruitment is ongoing, so if you think you are the right person for our project and you would like to become a part of our wonderful team of reporters, don’t hesitate to apply!

In order to do so, you need to follow these two steps:

1. Fill out the application form
2. Send a mail with 1 or 2 photoblogs to yourvisionforeurope@aegee.org. The photoblogs submitted should be in line with the ones already published.

Is it an internal project for AEGEE members only?

No, we encourage people from outside AEGEE to apply as well. At the moment, the majority of our reporters are non-AEGEEans.

Is this project going to have a follow-up with the results?  

Photoblog by Elisabetta Calzolaio

At the moment, we don’t have precise plans about it. ‘Your Vision for EUrope’ project will include a final conference where the various outcomes will be presented, ideally in the form of policy recommendations for relevant policy makers, so as to express the vision of young people about the future of Europe. We still don’t know how ‘Faces of Europe’ photoblog will contribute to this collection of final results. If the whole campaign proves to be successful and valuable, we can certainly take in consideration a specific follow-up (e.g. a dedicated publication).

How much do you think the recent events will impact the people’s vision of Europe ?

Europe is certainly going through a period of crisis, which means a crucial moment for its development. Starting from the Greece’s debt crisis, then considering the still ongoing refugee crisis, and finally arriving to the recent dramatic events in Paris, Europe is facing enormous challenges. I think that now more than ever people is questioning the identity and even the existence of the European Union. This isn’t necessarily a negative fact: it is the time for European citizens and in particular for the younger generation to think about what they want Europe to be and to shape a different future for our community. If we fail in this, it is possible that the European project will fade.

As a conclusion, do you have any suggestions for the people who are applying as reporters for Faces of Europe?

You don’t need to be a professional photographer or journalist to join our team: we are looking for reporters who love meeting new people and sharing stories. Another requirement is to have the time and will to submit two photoblogs per month. If you recognize yourself in this description, don’t wait and apply!

You can find Your Vision for EUrope Facebook page here and the Faces of Europe photoblog Facebook page here.

Written by Gabriela Geană, AEGEE-București

It has been one of the most awaited launches. A few months after the creation of a new project in our Focus Area ‘Spreading Europtimism’ was announced, the Network was eager to know more about an initiative that aims to engage our members and other young Europeans in a discussion on the future of Europe.

We are now slowly getting to know further details: “Your vision for EUrope” will be the official name of the project, and the team members are working hard on planning their activities and a campaign on informing about the impact of the European Union in our daily lives. The AEGEEan spoke to the Project Manager, Lara Killius (AEGEE-München) about the first steps of this newcomer in our Network.

The Project Team meeting in Brussels

The AEGEEan: Lara, you are the Project Manager of the upcoming “Your vision for EUrope” team – Why did you decide to join?
Lara: For some time, I have been very interested in joining a European project. When I heard during Autumn Agora Cagliari 2014 that the Comité Directeur had plans to start this project, I was immediately interested. I think the subject is extremely important, since even in AEGEE there are so many people that don’t know how the European Union actually works, and especially how they can participate. I think everyone should know how the European Union (EU) is influencing our lives and how they can bring their opinion to the higher levels. I would like this project to trigger an active discussion about the EU and motivate people to express their opinion and willingness to believe in it. At the moment, many things are changing in the EU and it is important that the people don’t forget the basic idea and all the positive things it is bringing. I think this project is coming at exactly the right time.

What is going to be the aim of the project?
“Educate young people about the EU and encourage an informed discussion on its current and future state in order to empower them to propose constructive solutions to pressing European issues, as well as to reconnect them to the European integration process”.

It is very important for us to trigger discussions and to make young people think about the EU and to speak up. And an important base for this is education. We would like to bring the voice of the young people close to the EU policy-makers. For example, one way to do this would be to reduce the gap between youth and EU policy-makers by facilitating a dialogue between them.

What does “Europtimism” mean to you?
For me, Europtimism doesn’t mean to be the biggest fan of the EU or to support without exception everything that the EU is doing. For me, being europtimistic means to believe in the basic idea of the EU, meaning to have a Europe with open borders in which we can move freely and to believe that the different countries should help and support each other. A big part of this is also to deal with issues and criticise in a constructive way, because one can criticise actions of the EU without being against the EU itself. I think especially now, everyone, but mostly the youth in Europe, should stand together and show that we still support one another. I also love all the different cultures we have in Europe and I think a united Europe means in no way to give up cultures or traditions, it is much more about keeping your own traditions while being open for others as well.

Which activities do you plan to carry and how would you like to involve the Network?
Is it very important for us to not only work together with antennae in the EU but also with the ones outside of it. The politics of the EU are influencing also the countries around it, and everyone should be informed about how the EU is working. We are planning to create trainings everyone can use. This way, all antennae, also the small ones, can organise events connected to the project. Besides that, we would like to organise two bigger conferences and a campaign, in order to reach even more people. Our team is not complete yet, so a lot of things still have to be defined, since it is important that the whole team stands behind our activities.

Do yo have any plans for the project before Agora Kyïv?
At the moment we try to create the first trainings and, besides that, we would like to apply for funding to make our activities more successful. We are also already planning one campaign so I am sure you will hear from us in the next weeks.

You had your team meeting in Brussels. What can you tell us about it, and about the project team members?
The kick-off was great. I didn’t meet the biggest part of the team personally before and I was very happy to see how enthusiastic everyone was. We were happy that we all had the same ideas about the project and finding an aim we were all happy with was relatively easy. It’s great to work in such a good team and I believe we are all good in what we are doing. Besides that we all live in different countries, some countries that have in general a more positive view about the EU, some from countries in which the basic mood is less good, countries inside the EU and also outside of it. So I think we will be able to cover different views on problems and solutions.

If you want to contact them, check their page on Members Portal or send an email to yourvisionforeurope@aegee.org.

Written by Anna Gumbau, AEGEE-Barcelona

A new month comes with a new ACTive Local of the Month. This month, the Dutch local AEGEE-Utrecht was elected for covering all of the Focus Areas of the Strategic Plan within one month organising four different activities. We spoke to the President of the local, Folckert van der Molen, to find out more about this local and their Action Agenda involvement!  

First of all, can you tell us a bit more about your local?
AEGEE-Utrecht was founded in 1987 by a group of local law students. Now we have grown to be one of the largest locals in the network, with nearly 300 members. It is headed by a full-time board of five people. In total there are about 20 committees with a total of 125 members in active positions. This allows for a full calendar of activities, with an average of 3 activities per week.

Which activities related to the Action Agenda/Strategic Plan did you organise?
We organised a workshop on professional profiling, an international night, a vegetarian dinner and an outgoing exchange with AEGEE-Budapest. Our workshop, contributing to the Focus Area of Youth Employment, aimed to teach participants how to profile themselves in the labour market. A lot of present people later mentioned they found it very inspirational and helpful.

Our International Night, contributing to the Focus Area of Spreading Europtimism, was organised in cooperation with other internationally oriented student associations in Utrecht and gave us the chance to bring together international and local students for a memorable night.

Our vegetarian dinner, contributing to the Focus Area of Civic Education, contributed to the 40 days without meat action organised by AEGEE-Leuven. One of our committees already organises dinners for our members once every month around a theme. This time they decided to go with a Greek and vegetarian theme. Although the Greek cuisine is known for their delicious meat dishes, they managed to create some outstanding vegetarian Greek dishes.

Last but not least, our exchange, contributing to the Focus Area of Youth Mobility, was organised in cooperation with our twin antenna AEGEE-Budapest. As part of our twin antenna agreement, we hold at least one exchange per year. This time, we also invited AEGEE-Barcelona to join us for five days of sightseeing, fun and new and old friendships.

Why did you decide to organise these activities?
As one of the larger locals, we feel we should strive to maximize that potential. That’s why for every idea for an activity, we ask ourselves a simple question: is this a true AEGEE activity? That means, how do we contribute to the goals we set out to achieve? For all these activities we think we managed to give the real AEGEE spirit to the participants and certainly bring Europe a little closer to home!

What were the results of your activities?
Actually all activities had a great number of participants. The International Night for example attracted almost 500 people. For the exchange we even had to disappoint some people for whom there was no more room. Even the workshop had a pretty good attendance, while we have in the past found it difficult to get a lot of people for that kind of activity.

Do you have any other activities related to the Action Agenda planned?
Our plans mainly focus on getting our members more active in Europe and not only in Utrecht. While not directly related to a specific focus area, this should have a positive impact. That said, we do have a couple of activities planned. For example, a hitchhiking competition in cooperation with other locals, or a trip to The Hague, to visit the Humanity House where you can experience life as a refugee. Also, we are one of the organising locals for the Democracy in Practice training courses, which of course is a big contribution to the Civic Education focus area. There are more examples, but let’s not name them all here!

Do you have any other big plans for the upcoming year?

Always! We are planning to throw the best gala we have ever seen, in the most amazing location available in Utrecht. Shortly after that we will celebrate our birthday and have a lot more activities that together we call our theme month. This year the theme is stories, which gives a lot of room for great activities. In the summer we will organise our Summer University “Meet your new partners in crime”, in cooperation with AEGEE-Delft and AEGEE-Amsterdam. And after that the focus will be on recruitment and introduction, because before the start of the next academic year we hope to find about 100 new members for AEGEE-Utrecht.

Why should other locals organise activities related to the Action Agenda?
Because any organisation can throw social nights or whatever, but as AEGEE we can do much more than that. Our whole raison d’être is to make Europe more connected and to be the voice of young people. The AEGEE network provides amazing opportunities to make an impact. It would be a waste not to take advantage of that!

Do you have any tips for organising thematic activities?
Involve as many people as possible! It is tempting to do everything by yourself or even with just the board members, since a lot of times it’s even more efficient that way. A big part of the impact of organising these kind of activities however is in giving people the experience to organise and connect themselves to the European Project. Get some inexperienced members on the team or find partnerships with other associations. The joy of seeing other people grow is just as great as putting all the pieces together yourself.

Which objective of the new Action Agenda do you look forward to working with the most?
Actually I am pretty happy about all of them. As we have many active committees, it is up to them to decide what they think is interesting or important. We don’t need to focus on just one of the aims. AEGEE belongs to all members and I am looking forward to seeing what each of them comes up with on their own. As President of AEGEE-Utrecht I am looking forward most of all to facilitating all the crazy ideas they bring to us and supporting them in making them a reality.

Written by Svenja van der Tol, AEGEE-Nijmegen

In December, we elected the first ACTive Local of the Month, which was AEGEE-Heraklio for their event about the human rights situation of deaf people. This month, AEGEE-Amsterdam was elected for their contribution to the Focus Area of Spreading Europtimism with an evening about Europe under the name of ‘Me, myself and Europe’. Time to speak to them to find out more!

First of all, can you tell us a bit more about your local?

AEGEE-Amsterdam was founded in 1986. Currently we have the 29^th board called ‘Aurora’ running the local. We are very active in and around Amsterdam. Every Tuesday, the whole year long, we have our social drink in a private bar in the center of Amsterdam. Besides that, we have a very busy year schedule. On average we have one activity per week (besides the social drink). The responsible board member and its committee organise activities. The five board members have to coordinate the 14 local committees (IT, Magazine, Party, PR, Introduction, Cooking, Ski, Formal Ball, Paparazzi, Social Drink, Culture, Sailing, Application Committee and Commercial Team). Besides all the things we offer our members on the local level we also have six European committees that organise everything from hitchhiking trips to exchanges and of course a summer university! Popular activities during the year are introduction camp (180 members attended), winter sport vacation (100 members), Formal Ball (120 members) and a European weekend trip to a random city (100 members).

Which activity did you organise in December?

We organised an evening about Europe in cooperation with ISN-Amsterdam and SIB-Amsterdam (both internationally oriented student associations). The evening was called ‘Me, myself and Europe’ and we invited three guest speakers. Mark Schalekamp, a writer that travels to all the capital cities of the EU, Arjen Berkvens, the director of the Foundation Max van der Stoel, which supports emerging democracies of countries in which civil liberties are under pressure and Niesco Dubbelboer, a political scientist at the University of Amsterdam and director of Agora Europe! We closed the evening with some radical statements, which made for a good discussion between the guest speakers and the audience.

How did you decide on this activity?

We wanted to organise an evening together with a different student organization. SIB and ISN have their office in the same building, so it was easy to make the connection. Europe was a theme that was on our to-do list. We want to let our members see Europe from different points of view, not just the political way.

What was the result of your activity?

We had around 50 people attending the event. It was really nice to corporate with different student associations and we learned a lot. Each association has a different way of operating and also their members differ a lot from ours. To see the three together was a really interesting format.

Do you have any other activities related to the Action Agenda/Strategic Plan planned?

We have an event coming up in February called: ‘AEGEE-Amsterdam: Yes, we care!’ That week we’ll sleep on a boat together with our participants. It’s going to be an environmental conscious week! We’ll do all sorts of fun stuff in Amsterdam but besides all the ‘normal’ touristic activities we’re also going to do a recycling workshop, visit the Salvation Army and have dinner in a waste conscious restaurant! You can find more information here.

Why should other locals organise activities related to the Action Agenda/Strategic Plan?

It’s an easy way to activate your own members. You can learn a lot, and more important, just have fun!

Do you have any tips for organising thematic activities?

Start early with brainstorming and contacting guest speakers. Once everything is falling into place, start your campaign and make sure that every member knows about it! It’s also important that you organise something that is close to the interests of your members.

Written by Svenja van der Tol, AEGEE-Nijmegen